Seattle's got another taxpayer-funded toilet project for us, folks.
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Yes, the city that can't even keep needles out of playgrounds is spending a cool $464,000 on four solar-powered "smart" public restrooms.
That's $116,000 per toilet.
For the FIFA World Cup.
These high-tech toilets come with QR code entry, an app, sensors that monitor waste tanks, and the ability to ban vandals. Users even get to rate the cleanliness afterwards! The units are solar-powered, hands free, ADA-compliant, have baby-changing stations, and will operate on a strict 10-minute limit.
More info on the toilets:
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Revolutionary stuff, and these toilets already exist in utopias like Los Angeles and San Francisco.
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Mayor Katie Wilson, I kid you not, called these toilets the "first step to delivering on Seattle's number 1 and number 2 priority."
Would be a really funny joke if these things didn't cost a hundred thousand a pop ... per year.
Yes, per year!
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So Seattle isn't just looking at $464,000 for four bathrooms. It's going to be an extra estimated $400,000 per year to keep them running after the pilot program is up.
And get this, Seattle has tried something similar in the past.
From KOMO News:
Seattle has been down this road before.
Nearly 20 years ago, the city spent millions on high-tech public toilets that promised automated cleaning systems and multilingual instructions.
'It gives instructions in English and Spanish!' then-City Councilmember Jan Drago said at the time.
But many of those bathrooms were quickly vandalized and became magnets for crime and drug use.
Eventually, the city scrapped the experiment and sold the toilets on eBay for pennies on the dollar.
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You know what they say about history...
Looking forward to reporting on how these toilets perform over the next two years before the project has to be scrapped altogether.
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